Amendment 17: New (Early Career) Investigator Program Clarification and Due Date Delay

Amendment 17 delays the due dates and clarifies the limitations on the kind of salaries NASA will cover in response to successful proposals to program element A.36 New Investigator Program in Earth Science.

The New (Early Career) Investigator Program (NIP) in Earth Science is designed to support outstanding scientific research and career development of scientists and engineers at the early stage of their professional careers. The program aims to encourage innovative research initiatives and cultivate scientific leadership in Earth system science. The Earth Science Division (ESD) places particular emphasis on the investigators' ability to promote and increase the use of space-based remote sensing through the proposed research.

Section 2.3 has been updated to specify that for proposers to this program element who are civil servants, NASA will only pay portions of their salary that are not normally fully covered as part of agency budgets. NASA will cover salary (up to three months) for scientists whose compensation must be won through competitive proposals to their employing agency or other agencies. NASA salary support for scientists at other agencies is NOT intended to be provided "in lieu of" salary that would normally be paid by the employing agency. If civil servant salary for other agency personnel is requested as part of the proposal, the budget page must specifically outline the compensation approach that the agency uses to cover its civil servants and verify that any NASA salary support would not be replacing that normally paid by the employing agency.

Notices of intent are now requested by August 14, 2017 and proposals are now due September 14, 2017.

Questions concerning this program element may be directed to Lin Chambers at lin.h.chambers@nasa.gov.